its top credit status if there's a delay in raising the debt ceiling. the federal government is expected to exceed its borrowing limit by march, unless congress acts. if fitch does downgrade u.s. debt, it would join standard and poor's, which took that action in 2011 during the last debt ceiling debate. the u.s. house moved to pass a hurricane sandy relief bill this evening. $17 billion would go for immediate recovery in the affected northeastern states. another $33 billion is for long- term spending. some republicans argued that much of the money isn't for emergency relief at all. california's tom mcclintock called for stripping that funding out. >> according to the congressional budget office, more than 90% of this money won't even be spent this year. that's not emergency relief. $16 billion is to quintuple the size of the community development block grant program. that's the slush fund that pays for such dubious projects as doggie day care centers and doesn't even have to be spent in the hurricane area. >> sreenivasan: other republican >> sreenivasan: other republicans joined

across the country. >> we're going to change to debt ceiling now. white house leader eric cantor says the gop -- they're going to give them a three-month reprieve, they're going to temporarily approve a debt limit increase. the president said no negotiating on the debt limit ceiling. is this a victory for the president or do you see this as just a postponing of the inevitable standoff? >> it's both. it is a victory for the president, the republicans have been saying, we're not going to raise the debt ceiling unless we have every dollar of the debt ceiling goes to spending of that same amount. they've conceded they're going to extend the debt ceiling without any cuts. but that moves us to now where government funding expires on march 31th. at that point, we'll have a s w showdown in which republicans insist on spending cuts. there will still be some kind of fight. we will have a clock to some kind of catastrophic event that could happen, like we had in december. but it would not be with the debt ceiling. the republicans seem to have conceded to the obama. they're worried that obam

men and women who serve for the u.s. military. >> hmm. we have to talk debt ceiling, peter, because there's been this talk of minting that trillion-dollar coin. that is now off the table. so is the white house looking at another big fight here, and do you think if so it's on par with what we saw at the fiscal cliff? >> i think in many ways this one could be a lot more significant. this could be a lot more difficult than the fiscal cliff. there was a deadline for that and that was an issue that a lot of people felt would be resolved ultimately in some form the way that it was. the debt ceiling crisis does sort of put these o'two sides, the republicans and democrats and the white house and congress head to head. once again right now, the republicans have insisted that the only way they will raise that debt ceiling past the 16.4 trillion mark where it is right now is if they get dollar for-dollar spending cuts that match that raise. the president has said, his press secretary has said, they will not negotiate on this issue. on the fiscal cliff issue they were willing to negotiate. ther

future. bill: well a grim picture in the showdown over the debt ceiling about to get a bit more dismal. the white house has no plan b in the debt fight, challenging republicans to allow them to bore row more money or allow the country to default on its loans. 16 trillion in debt. getting higher by the clock. senator mike lee has a vote on this from utah. thank you for coming here. no backup plan according to the white house. in addition the treasury department says there is no plan b. what do you think about that? >> well, that's a problem. too often in washington we're faced between kind of a false choice. we're presented with a choice that says, okay, you either take no cuts at all and raise the debt limit, or you raise the debt limit with the promise of kits that may never transpire and that kind of cut simply won't cut it anymore. hard-working americans deserve better than this and all the programs they rely on are placed in jeopardy by reflexively raising the debt limit without putting in place permanent structural reform. bill: what do you think will happen? sometime about mid-fe

debt ceiling. is it an overrated crisis? our next guest is from austin, texas, james galbraith, university of texas economist. also the author of "inequality and instability." we want to talk to but the debt ceiling, particularly entitlements, james. what is your sense, if today and now is not the time to cut entitlements, when is the time to cut entitlements? >> i don't think it's a good idea, from the standpoint of the future of the american economy to reduce the security that people expect in their old age. so we're talking about social security here. talking about mid care. we're talking about medicaid. these are foundations for the future life of most of the working population of the country at the moment. if you cut them, people will draw back in their current activity, at least to some degree. >> right. >> so you're basically saying you're going to do something which will squeeze people's living standards out in the future. it will not have any direct effect today on economic activity. except to the extent that people react to that by deleveraging more and saving more. w